Fields of Dreams: The You Can Play project reminds us that for gays playing sports, it doesn't matter what you play, what matters is that you can play

Opinion: If there's anything that illustrates the difference between men and women — and, by extension, gay men and lesbians — it's sports. I do not mean any difference in talent or will to win. I grew up with a mother who was the oldest of seven siblings, six of whom played softball, four of them extremely competitively, and three of those four being the girls. The ''throw like a girl'' thing didn't apply — my aunts could take your head off if you weren't careful. And I felt like my mom was always the ''win, win, win'' parent when it came to my own sports life, whether on a baseball field or, most lastingly, the tennis court. No, the real difference is how radically accepting women's professional sports are of openly lesbian players than men's pro sports are of openly gay ones. From basketball to soccer, lesbian players aren't just open, they're celebrated. In tennis, the country's largest facility and the site of the U.S. Open is named after a lesbian who happens to be one of the most famous figures in all sports, male or female: the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. It's a much different world than the one King initially came out into. ... (more)

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